PATRICK Coveney, the Cork based surveying firm, has been taken over by Dublin based chartered surveyors Bruce Shaw for an undisclosed sum. The four partners in the firm include the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Mr Hugh Coveney.
The practice was established by Mr Coveney's father in the mid1920s and is the largest in the Munster region, with turnover estimated to be around £500,000.
Mr Hugh Coveney is to retire from the practice, which will be run by two of the four existing partners - Mr Michael O'Mahony and Mr Tony O'Regan. The fourth partner, Mr Dairmuid O'Neill, will also remain involved in an advisory capacity.
Bruce Shaw is the largest surveying practice in Ireland, with a turnover of £8 million and offices in Dublin, Belfast, London and Berlin. The acquisition of Patrick Coveney has given the company access to the Munster market, which has traditionally been a hard market for Dublin based firms to break into, explained Mr Brendan O'Mara, the chairman of Bruce Shaw.
The move will establish Bruce Shaw as one of the top 15 quantity surveying practices in the world, according to Mr O'Mara. It is actively looking at further expansion possibilities, particularly in Britain.
Overall, the group will employ 140 people, including 20 joining from Patrick Coveney. The Cork practice is currently working on a number of high profile jobs in the Munster region including the Lee Tunnel near Cork city. Bruce Shaw are advisers on the construction of the Hewlett Packard facility in Leixlip, Co Kildare and the Laganbank development in Belfast.
